Harvard to hold memorial service for Alexander H. Patel

Patel, who grew up in Denver, Colorado, attended a highly competitive college prep school.

Alexander H. Patel (Courtesy of Harvard)

Harvard University will hold a memorial service on November 8 to commemorate Harvard senior Alexander H. Patel who died last month.

According to a report in Harvard Crimson, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana has written an email to students informing them about the memorial service.

The sudden and unexpected death of Patel came as a shock to the students and faculties of the university. The service will be held at Memorial Church Sanctuary and will be followed by a reception in Adams House.

“Many of us knew Alexander as a brilliant and supportive classmate, and as a true friend,” Khurana wrote. “Both the service and the reception will provide the opportunity for those in our community whose lives were touched by Alexander to come together.”

A philosophy and mathematics concentrator and award-winning former Crimson News editor, Patel was considered as a brilliant student with wide intellectual interests ranging from computer science to ancient Greek classics.

The Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner found the body of Patel at his residence in late October. According to Middlesex District Attorney’s office spokeswoman Meghan Kelly, no foul play is suspected in the death of the student.

“He was also one of the most emotionally intelligent kids I’ve ever met. If I had a bad day, he’d swing by in this old red Subaru that he loved—and at times, hated—and take me to Chick-Fil-A and make me forget that my problems existed,” Patel’s high school friend Christopher P. Barry told Harvard Crimson.

Apart from pursuing his studies, Patel had worked as a teaching fellow for various Computer Science classes, conducted research in a lab run by Computer Science professor Margo I. Seltzer ’83, and held a side-job as an information technology consultant.

Patel, who grew up in Denver, Colorado, attended a highly competitive college prep school. He also found time to pursue side projects and personal interests while taking an unusually large course load.

Harvard to hold memorial service for Alexander H. Patel was last modified: November 8th, 2017 by AB Wire